ETHIOPIA (Abessinia)

In 1907 3 stamps of 25 c, 50 c and 1 Franc were used by France in Ethiopia, they were valid in the cities of Harrare and Dirré Daoua, inscription 'LEVANT'.

(reduced sizes)

1896 Menilek II

(reduced size)

1/4 g green
1/2 g red
1 g blue
2 g brown

The stamps dealer Arthur Maury offered these stamps at a discount in France (roughly half of the quantity of stamps printed was offered in this way). To distinguish stamps for real use in Ethiopia and stamps issued for stamp collectors they were overprinted with 'Ethiopie' (2 types) or native text (3 types):

Forgeries: Four different kinds of forgeries are known. The forgeries of the forger Fournier are the most dangerous. Many different overprints have been apllied to these forgeries and images can be found in 'The Fournier Album of Philatelic Forgeries'. The genuine stamps should be perforated 14 x 13 1/2, however, the Fournier forgeries are perforated 14 x 14. Furthermore, there is an error in the design, the white line, in front of the face of the king, is interrupted by a flower at the bottom (as in the genuine), this white line continues below the flower in the genuine stamp, but it disappears in the forgeries (source http://www.doig.net/Fournier.html). For a picture of some Fournier forgeries, see at the end of this session. The other three forgeries have weird cancels (even one with 'IMITATION' in a circle).

The Dire Daoua overprint was also forged. See http://doig.net/1911DDProv.html for more information. The relative position of the first 'E' of 'EXCEP' and the 'E' of 'FAUTE' is different from the genuine. The bottom part of the 'P' of 'EXCEP' should point to the left of the 'B' of 'TIMB', in the forged overprint it points to the center of the 'B'.

1896 Lion with flag

4 g brown
8 g lilac
16 g black

(Reduced size)

The stamps dealer Arthur Maury offered these stamps at a discount in France. To be able to distinguish stamps for real use in Ethiopia and stamps issued for stamp collectors these stamps were overprinted with 'Ethiopie' (2 types) or native text (3 types).

Forgeries: Fournier made forgeries of these stamps as well as the previous Menilek issue. Many different overprints can be found in 'The Fournier Album of Philatelic Forgeries'. The genuine stamps should be perforated 14 x 13 1/2, however, the Fournier forgeries are perforated 14 x 14. Again, there is an error in the design, the upper right scroll has 3 lines inside the loop (instead of 4) and no lines in front of the loop (instead of 3), source http://www.doig.net/Fournier.html.